A major goal of the Educational Technology Department is to maintain and support a high quality, high speed technology and infrastructure system which is essential to the advancement of digital learning. When part of a comprehensive educational strategy, the effective use of technology (and necessary infrastructure) provides tools, resources, data, and support systems that increase teaching opportunities and promote efficiency.

If one of District’s goals is to prepare our students for the modern workplace, then a robust network infrastructure and sufficient Internet bandwidth are resources of primary importance.

Like the industries and higher education institutions to which our students will transit, the school District has moved nearly all tools and resources online. Our students now use G Suite for Education, along with many online tools. At this point, there is vastly increased computer-based standardized testing and various online assessments, which will include high school students in the near future.

From the above it is easy to see that loss of these resources would seriously impact the day-to-day activities of our educational environment. While our network connectivity has been generally reliable, the bandwidth needed to support all the activity is sometimes strained, and demand keeps growing. There are times when performance is impacted or not steady. Further, this can occur at inopportune moments (e.g. classroom activities and online testing).

Upgrading the infrastructure across the District to accommodate current and anticipated demand is part of the District technology plan.

The specific issues being addressed by this warrant:

• Antiquated switching: Most of the switching equipment used in the District was deployed fifteen years ago. Modern replacement switches will bring access port speed to 1 Gbps. This allows for a higher number of simultaneous connections. This is significant as the District network currently supports 3,400 devices. Slow response time is not conducive to continued student engagement.
• Access Points: Across the District, all of the wireless access points were installed more than five years ago. These were part of the District’s initial move into serious digital learning by introducing enterprise class wireless. The devices are at the end of their support term and are being replaced by new versions for less cost than renewing the old ones. In addition, these devices provide the very latest wireless performance standards which far exceed those of the old. More reliable access points will result in a more reliable network. Unreliable networks are not conducive to encouraging teachers to expand the use of digital tools and resources.

The aforementioned infrastructure improvements will allow the internal network to fully utilize the available Internet bandwidth and “future proof” our ability to increase Internet bandwidth is added into the foreseeable future.

For additional information, please visit the GDRSD Strategic Technology Plan – FY17-21.